From the constant attacks from Garan and the supporting attacks from the side, Zane has lost the flow of the battle. Zane has already started rapidly depleting his mana reserve that he had gathered earlier and was getting weaker by the second. Now, seeing a way to replenish his mana he could finally start fighting back but the strain of this fight was starting to take a toll on him.
Seeing how he could use Garan's attacks against them, that was something he could use.
Zane could still hear the sounds of war outside and how loud the sounds of metal clashing against each other is. He heard a very familiar voice among the constant shouts, it was a young voice but a dependable one. He could only smile.
Zane looked around him and saw that there wasn't a single person out of their encirclement. He directly rushed the opposite direction where Garan was trying to do something drastic.
Seeing Zane come up to them, the enemy soldiers were caught off-guard and this slight confusion was more than enough time for Zane to get near them. Garan didn't care about what his action would've done but he threw his spear towards Zane at a near undodgeable speed.
Zane already knew in advance what Garan would do since he already this exact thing earlier. Garan threw his spear and going to appear right behind him so while Zane would be dealing with the incoming spear, Garan would be able to attack freely.
Zane, in response, threw his sword at the incoming spear and looked to the side where Zane thought Garan would appear, and as expected Garan appeared there. Zane moved in advance directly aiming for Garan's pressure points.
Actually using his knowledge on Intermediate Martial Arts, his technical skill was much higher than Garan but in terms of stamina and strength, he was lacking right now.
Zane managed to hit Garan stunning him for a brief moment, with this slight moment of freedom Zane kicked Garan's knees forcing him to kneel and with a clean kick to his chest, was sent flying across the room hitting a section of the archers.
Zane then slammed his hand on the floor the took as much mana as he possibly could in this short amount of time. When Zane felt the first surge of mana was extremely odd, it was extremely condensed to the point that it should be radiating light but it wasn't.
Zane didn't have the luxury of time as an arrow was shot directly aiming to wound him, this shot had even more power than the other arrows, enough to directly pierce his almost non-existent mana reinforced body.
He didn't have any more time to siphon Adam's mana so he jumped up with being able to replenish half of his mana reserve. Zane looked at where the archer who shot that arrow but couldn't see him. It was now getting more dangerous since a hidden expert was among the elites.
Zane ignored the archer and went to pick up his sword when another arrow shot and Garan appeared right behind him. This arrow's trajectory was at a weird angle which would've normally missed but Garan followed up by attacking Zane from behind directly putting him in front of the arrow.
Luckily, Zane had already formed and his used mana to block it but that arrow took out quite a lot of mana to block. He was now standing in the middle once more and their formations were even sturdier.
Using a bit more mana, Zane healed himself once more putting an even greater strain on his body. He could now feel how much harder it is to move around and how stiff his body's becoming.
Garan saw Zane's posture and movements and realized that this was the end, he went forward to pick up his spear and savored these last few moments then looked Adam in the eye. Adam looked back but still had this amused look on his face.
As Garan was focusing his last strike on Zane there was something he had to say, "Too bad." Garan with a weapon on his hand struck Zane who was still empty-handed.
Zane defended against this strike by using all the mana he had gathered early into defending this one strike. Garan's spear attack was blocked by Zane but was he was still sent flying across the room directly hitting the throne room doors.
The throne room doors were, unexpectedly, broken by this impact. The king saw this and looked at Adam.
The king was quite confused about why the doors weren't protected by the spell so he asked, "What happened? Why didn't your spell cover the doors?"
Adam nonchalantly replied, "Then how is the rebellion going to kill the king?"
The king got chills sent down his spine when he heard this. He once again looked at the door and saw an army, an army bathed in blood.
Gabe was at the forefront while Abel was slightly behind. Gabe had blood all over him and had an extremely scary-looking expression. Abel, on the other hand, had a somber expression when he saw Zane on the floor in front of him.
The army right behind them wasn't any less scary, they had pierced their spears with the heads of the commanders in battle, five heads, the exact number of commanders defending the kingdom. This meant that even if the king didn't die the kingdom was as good as over.
Zane was obviously battered on the floor when he spoke up, "What took you so long?"
Seeing how badly beaten Zane was, they didn't start to fear the enemy in front of them but instead raged. They still were all buffed by Gabe and with Abel leading the charge they feared no one. An 80 man army filling in the throne room was something the enemy didn't anticipate.
Abel directly went forward and attacked the strongest looking person in the room which was Garan while everyone else went forward attacking the soldiers.
From outnumbering Zane in the beginning, they were now the ones who were being outnumbered. Since this was now an actual battlefield, the enemy elites were going forward and attacking Zane's army.
One enemy soldier rushed forward-thinking this would be an easier fight than with Zane but they were dead wrong. Battle instincts forged through slaughter with weapons that could cut through anything protected by impenetrable armor, this army in this region is basically unstoppable.
The enemy soldier attacked someone's blindspot skilfully and thought he would've been able to kill him but despite his expectations, he saw his whole world go round before his hit could even connect.
Another team of enemy soldiers double-teamed against a single person, at that point, he could only defend against these two constant attacks but a mere second later, both of them were shot down, with the arrows cleanly piercing through their heads.
The hidden enemy expert was hiding within a crowd when he tried to aim for Gabe who seemed to be leading this entire attack, as soon as he aimed for Gabe he didn't hesitate and shot his arrow. When the arrow was in mid-air, he thought this was a guaranteed kill but then an arrow was also shot from Gabe's side hitting the arrow head-on, completely piercing it in half and killing the hidden expert alongside it.
Gabe just complimented the elite archer whose aim was getting better and better with each shot, "Good work, Adrian."
With the enemy soldier dying left and right without even being able to fight back even once, the king was extremely terrified by this sudden turn of events. The previously worthless people he was ruling over turned into an extremely terrifying army overnight.
Abel was holding his own against Garan but was obviously losing at all sides. Still, Abel was doing the best he could and was excelling at defending himself against Garan's attacks. His attacks were predictable to the point that Abel could dodge everything since it was the exact same attack each time.
Gabe was standing beside Zane trying to spare some mana he still had left trying to force Zane to heal. While he was doing this, Adrian fired his last shot killing the last soldier leaving Garan all alone.
Adam mocking said, "How the tables have turned. Get it ready."
The king was terrified of what was about to happen. He made a bet that he shouldn't have had and now he was about to pay the price for his pride.
The king could only speak in mumbles, "Greedy bastard. There is still a chance."
Now being in Zane's position, Garan could understand just how hard it was. Having to constantly think about the arrow going to hit you and the person in front of you constantly battering you, it wasn't a favorable position to be in.
As time flew, Garan obviously became weaker and weaker as a few arrows were already embedded in his body.
The king was starting to really panic as he shouted out, "Do it. Garan! I can bring you back! We won't survive at this point!"
When Garan heard this he started to laugh and nodded his head. Desperate times call for desperate measures. He did this in the middle of Abel attack letting him hit him cleanly in the stomach.
Adam then leaned on his throne while he snapped his fingers causing his spell to disappear, he still had the same expression as earlier but now with had a disdainful tone, "Throwing away your humanity, how boring!"
When Eve heard Adam say this, she knew exactly what Adam was after as to why Adam was this mad, it was a safety net to save Zane in the future if anything ever happened.
The Absolute Barrier spell that he cast caused the throne room that had seemed to never break nor scratch instantly crack under Garan's feet. He was turning into an abomination.
Adam added a friendly reminder, "If you don't want to die, I suggest you run."
When Gabe and Abel heard Adam speak, they realized that he was someone important judging by where he was sitting. They immediately ordered everyone to run without hesitation. They tried to grab Zane on the way out but Adam was preventing them from doing so.
Zane was still barely conscious when he said, "Leave me and save those who you can."
Everyone didn't disagree with what Zane said since he was an Underworld Envoy and their leader, there also seemed to be a connection between Adam and Zane.
Garan was growing at an exponential rate, his arms that have been covered in a golden black substance were shrinking but it instead was starting to turn into gigantic bat wings. His legs were regressing as well molding itself into a snake's tail. His head was the worse one, from his once muscular face has turned into a slimy, scaled head reminiscent of a lizard.
His originally gigantic body was growing ever larger, it was so big that even the gigantic throne room couldn't hold its size and started to break. People were panicking and they started to run away as well. After it finished transforming, it mouthed its mouth and screeched.
It looked around its surroundings and then looked down. He saw Zane still complete fine right below him. He hovered above him and spat out fire aiming to burn Zane alive. The sheer amount of fire that was being spewed out was immense, burning even the people even remotely close to the castle.
While everyone was running away, they took the survivors on their way out. The people have been oppressed for a while and seeing that their saviors are guiding them out they decided to follow them. Although this was the case for the majority, some didn't follow but instead insulted them on how traitorous they were. These people were the ones who managed to get high up on the social ladder in the kingdom.
Adam stood over Zane with Eve by his side staring at the half-conscious Zane, clearly unaffected. If there weren't scorching marks in a circular manner all around them, one would've thought the fire was an illusion.
"Might as well."
Adam took the amulet holding the holy water from Zane's neck and kept it. Adam looked back at where the king was as he was still cowering over there with the exact same circular scorch marks around him.
"Can't have you dying on me without watching what your pawn can do."
A few moments passed and Zane jumped up and landed on a piece of metal hanging on top of the castle. The giant flying serpent in the air distracted itself from destroying everything by looking at the figure of a man on top of the castle.
It started to breathe out fire and frantically tired to burn Zane alive but after spewing out its initial fire, Zane stood there unaffected. An extremely sinister black aura covered Zane's body, there was also a red tint all around it which was indicative of fire.
"Too simple, too weak."
Zane reached out his arm and his sword from below levitated in the air running directly into Zane's hand. Despite the rubble and fire that was inflicted upon it, its white sheen and sharp edge weren't dulled in any way.
The black aura and red tint that hovered around Zane weren't forced into the sword but instead melded into it causing it to greatly increase in size and harmonize with fire. In the end, it was a great fiery sword even longer than the serpent itself.
"Garan, for your crimes against me, I sentence you to death."